Not Quite, or Almost
by mrsProbie
Summary: Non-magic AU. Lily's mum has hired James Potter to mow their lawn. She did not hire James Potter to flirt with her daughter. (Probably.)


As usual for a summer morning, the Evans' kitchen was bustling. During the academic year, Lily's classes (at a public school for gifted children, in the neighboring town) started at a quarter to eight, while Petunia's (at a private school only several blocks away) started at half past eight, and both girls liked to take their time getting ready each morning. They rarely saw their parents before school, and they took great pains (although they pretended it was coincidence) not to run into each other in the mornings either. During the summer, Mr. and Mrs. Evans made a point of waking both girls and having breakfast together, even if it was cold cereal instead of a classic spread.

On this particular summer morning, near the end of July, it had been cold cereal. Mr. and Mrs. Evans were blustering back and forth between the living room and the kitchen, Mr. Evans looking for his wallet and Mrs. Evans for her purse. Lily and Petunia watched as though it was a tennis match. Lily's head bounced back and forth, and Petunia's eyes followed while she sipped her coffee ("just black and with _no sugar_ , Lily, just give me the cup").

With a gasp, Mrs. Evans stopped at the kitchen table between the girls (Mr. Evans swerved neatly around her, muttering something daft about leaving his keys in the fridge). "Lily, sweetheart, I almost forgot to tell you - one of your school friends will by this afternoon to mow the lawn." Lily wondered vaguely which of her friends it was - Alice was out of town, and Marly had probably never broken a sweat in her life. Of course, their old standby was no longer an option… "Would you be a dear and give him the ten I left on the counter?" Mrs. Evans continued, glancing around as though she hadn't already searched the kitchen for her purse. "And maybe a glass of water, it's supposed to be over eighty-five today!"

When she wandered away, Lily called after her across the room: "Of course, Mum, just - who is it?"

Petunia rolled her eyes, then jumped as Mrs. Evans gave a gasp of excitement, having lifted a handknit afghan off the couch and found her purse wedged between two cushions, hidden under it. Lily snickered, drawing her mother's attention back to the two of them. "Oh, it's that James boy, you know the one -"

"Couldn't I just let him melt?" Lily asked snidely. "Then you wouldn't have to pay him."

"Lily, be _nice_ ," her mother admonished. "He's doing it for a tenner, and that's the cheapest offer I've gotten since you and Severus stopped -"

"All right, fine, yes, I'll give him the money," Lily said, blushing deeply. This time, it was Petunia's turn to snicker.

Her mother looked up from searching her purse to fix Lily with a stern gaze. "And you'll give him water."

Lily heaved a sigh. "And water."

With a triumphant _aha!_ , Mrs. Evans pulled her husband's keys from the depths of her purse. "Now, I warned him to watch out for the roses, but if you could just remind him to be _extra_ careful -"

"I'll work on getting it through his thick skull, don't worry."

Mrs. Evans frowned, but leaned in and kissed her on the forehead before doing the same for Petunia. Then, like a whirlwind, she and her husband were off to the car for work.

"Thank god for that," Petunia muttered, standing to leave - and then leaving her cereal bowl for Lily to take care of.

"Sure, Tunie," Lily called after her, but she was already upstairs judging by the _thump, thump_ of her steps. "I'll just clean this up, no problem."

* * *

An hour and a half later found Lily Evans curled up on the bench seat under her window, reading and rereading the chapter of her maths text on how to take a derivative. She was still considering what she thought might be the definition of a limit - she couldn't be _sure_ \- when she saw James Bloody Potter pushing a small lawnmower into her front yard. And didn't that sight just push every thought she was having of _x_ and _y_ right out of her head?

He didn't appear to have cut his hair since the end of term, and it was curling a little over his dark brows. He was wearing some band's black t-shirt that seemed maybe a size too small and a pair of what could only be described as ass-hugging stone-washed jeans. To top it off, he had a cigarette hanging from between his lips, and she watched him lift the lighter and close his eyes to take the first draw. Sirius must have been an extra bad influence lately, and she found herself appreciating it.

Suddenly, he looked up and into her window, smirking when he caught her looking. She felt her face heat, but she powered through it, sliding the window open and calling out, "Mum says to watch out for the roses!"

"I'd rather watch out for my Lily!" he called back. She got a certain satisfaction from slamming the window shut.

She tried to get back to studying, but there was only so much interest she could force herself to have in the change in _x_ approaching zero. The third time she noticed her attention wandering back to the boy in her lawn, she snapped the book shut and took a deep breath. She'd have a snack and take Potter some water, yes, that's what she would do.

Of course, Petunia had found her way back to the kitchen as well. She sneered at Lily over a teacup as the younger girl pulled a cookie from the ceramic jar on the counter. "How's your boyfriend?" She tossed her hair in the general direction of the front of the house. "Funny how quickly you got another one after Snape kicked you to the curb."

"He's not my boyfriend," Lily said dully, fighting the urge to crush her cookie into Petunia's hair. "Snape wasn't, either."

Petunia sniffed. "Right. So why do you think Mum always likes your boyfriends, when they're all so bloody strange? Maybe she can tell they're never going to try to lay a hand on you, they'd all be too afraid to know what to do with a woman." She shrugged. "You'd think a bunch of swots could study people enough to learn to be normal. Vernon doesn't even have to try," she added with a disgusting little sigh. (Vernon was her latest boyfriend, a man she'd met in her typing class, and he was the _worst._ )

"Again," Lily said, this time more matter-of-factly, "he's not my boyfriend. And I don't even know how he got into my school," she added with frustration. "One of these days McGonagall is going to petition to have him thrown out, I know it."

"You say that like I have any idea - or care - who this McGoyle is," Petunia said stiffly. She put her nose in the air and marched away, the scent of Earl Grey trailing behind her.

Lily scarfed down the cookie, then made a point of steeling herself as she poured a glass of water. She crept into the living room and then slowly cracked open the front door. James didn't seem to notice her yet. She stood there with the glass for a moment, just watching him work. He had a light dusting of cut grass on his shirt, and some has gotten in his hair. He looked… good, really good. Not to mention, he was cutting her mother a pretty great deal on the lawn-mowing, she knew that. She used to pay Severus fifteen, and here James was doing it for ten.

Of course, then he caught her looking, and he smirked and ruined all the positive things she was thinking about him. She approached him anyways, holding the glass carefully so as not to spill it, but before she could hand it off, he looked down at himself and gasped dramatically.

"Oh _no,_ " he said, the utter ham, "my shirt's all dirty! Better get rid of it." His tone was almost syrupy, and suddenly he was stripping off his shirt - Blondie, she noted - in her front yard. He tossed it over his shoulder and stretched a hand out, ripping her gaze from his chest. She blushed a deep and furious red. "That for me?" He didn't try to hide any double meaning.

She shoved the glass into his hand, spilling some water on him. He brought that hand to his mouth, and she realized he was going to lick the water off. _What is he doing - oh my fucking god - what is he -_ "I didn't mean to get distract - to distract you. From mowing," she added pointlessly. She was floundering, and his hand was an inch from his mouth, and then - "I'm trying to do the calculus summer work!"

Mercifully, the hand stopped. "I finished that last week," James said. "I could help you with it after this."

She couldn't even choke out a proper response because she was trying so hard not to look at his chest. Rugby had clearly treated him well. She nodded tersely and practically sprinted back into the house.

Petunia was waiting by the front door, not even hiding that she had been watching from a window. "Was he planning on shagging you right there in the lawn?"

Lily couldn't _wait_ to hear what she had to say after James came inside and helped her with her homework.

* * *

 **A/N:** The summer of 1976 was a record-setting hot summer in England.


End file.
